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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27906439">Something Good</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroyalwish/pseuds/aroyalwish'>aroyalwish</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Consent, F/M, Redeemed Ben Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:21:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,776</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27906439</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroyalwish/pseuds/aroyalwish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Tico has had enough of the brooding angst and wallowing self-pity that seems to be the default setting for the newest member of the Resistance: Ben Solo. She's determined to snap him back to his senses, even if she has to kiss him to do it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Solo | Kylo Ren/Rose Tico</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Something Good</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/gifts">lucymonster</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Resistance captain scrubs his face with one weathered blue hand. “It’s no use,” he says. Even through the holo, Rose can tell just how tired the Mon Calamari captain is, and she wishes she could be of more help. A second leader cuts in, explaining that there’s no way a new ship can land on the planet she’s found herself stranded on, with a dozen half-repaired droids and a great deal of the Resistance's supplies.</p><p>Rose listens to the hushed discussion, as she has for days now, listening as the base’s leaders calculate out the best way to move forward.</p><p>There’s an easy answer to their problem, of course. There’s a ship waiting, fueled and ready. Large enough to carry the cargo, Rose, and the various droids left to airlift off the planet. All it needs is a captain.</p><p>And therein lies the problem.</p><p>Rose might be a decent mechanic, but she’s no pilot. At least, not the sort of pilot that can make a hunk of junk like the one currently resting in the bay take off. She plans to try, of course, or rather, try again, given that the first time she’d been unable to even get the Corellian frigate’s engines to start.</p><p>“Tico,” the holo flickers as the captain tries to address her. “Have you found any other ways off the moon?”</p><p>She shakes her head. “Any word from Finn or Rey?”</p><p>The capian sighs. “Rey’s just pinged us, but various… factors are at play.”</p><p>“How so?”</p><p>“The two are dealing with Jedi… uh…”</p><p>“Jedi bullshit,” Poe’s voice cuts in, though Rose can’t see him. “Call it like it is, Captain. Those two got sucked into some damn whirlwind and aren’t any-fucking-where our tracers can grab.”</p><p>Rose’s eyebrows arch at the concept, though she can’t quite say she’s surprised. Stranger things have happened, she figures, in this strange time she’s found herself within. She’d signed up to fight. She’d never known she was signing up for a time when all the stories she’d heard as a girl were coming true. She’d never thought about the fact that to live among heroes meant that she must live among villains as well.</p><p>And now?</p><p>The heroes she knew and loved were gone, whisked away on their own missions, and she was stuck here, with him, a man as evil as the night could be dark.</p><p>Granted, the one she was supposed to call Ben Solo hadn’t done much evil since he’d woken up here, two weeks ago.</p><p>Truth be told, he hadn’t done much of <em>anything</em> at all. Sulked, mainly. Meditated and stared up at the sky. She’d been told that he’s no threat, not now, not a year after his so-called redemption. That all he wanted was to study the Force and find peace.</p><p>If that was the case, Rose thinks, he ought to be trying a little harder to find it.</p><p>She stews on that thought throughout the rest of the day. Throughout the time when he stalks outside to go bathe in the nearby stream, clearly oblivious of the dangerous ground they occupied, one that could be hit by an earthquake at any time. Clearly oblivious of even her.</p><p>He’s not spoke to her once since he woke from his coma, nor has she had anything to say to him. But tonight, Rose thinks, that needs to change. After taking a single shot of the Corellian whiskey that had been a gift, Rose balls her fists, takes a breath, and marches to the small tent which has become the sulking grounds of the once-most-feared man in the galaxy.</p><p>That man is now sitting cross-legged on a rock, hands on his knees, his head slumped so his dark hair falls in his face. The remains of a small fire, probably enough to heat his ration-stew, crackles in front of him, but he doesn’t move, not even as she stomps on the embers.</p><p>“Hey,” she says.</p><p>The man she’s supposed to call Ben Solo doesn’t look up.</p><p>“You there. You gonna actually do anything to help get us off this planet.”</p><p>“Go away,” he mutters, not opening his eyes.</p><p>“This half of the planet’s scheduled for a huge earthquake. You know that, right?”</p><p>“Nature can be both cruel and calculating in her actions,” he murmurs. “I am not one to stand in its way.”</p><p>“What’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p>“I shall not harness the power of the--”</p><p>“Oh come on!” Rose puts her hands on her hips. “You think that’s why I’m here? Because I wanted to ask you to lasso the stupid frickin darkside and make it stop the planet from blowing up? Really? That’s what you thought I’d ask? Is that even a good idea? Do you even <em>listen</em> to your own thoughts sometimes?”</p><p>“I spend a great deal of time in my own thoughts.” His eyes remain closed, but there’s something almost like a personality beginning to show in his tone.</p><p>“Yeah, probably too much time.” Not knowing what else to do, she lets out an exasperated sigh, as if he’s no more than a particularly useless first year cadet. “Have you thought about getting out of your own head and <em>doing</em> something?”</p><p>“If only you knew the evils I have already done.”</p><p>Rose steps forward, bold in her fury, and grabs the front of his shirt. It’s enough to make him lift his head, to make him look at her. “I know them.” Rose says, and her voice is deadly serious. “I’ve lost my sister, my only family, to your evil First Order. I’ve seen the death, the destruction you’ve caused. I know what you’re capable of, and k-” she stops herself. She can’t call him that name. Rey’s told her as much. She needs to call him Ben. But that name seems so… gentle, for such a terrifying man.</p><p>Except for the fact he’s not terrifying. Not now. He hasn’t even pulled her hand away. He’s just looking up at her with big eyes, the sort of eyes that would be more fitting on a famous actor and less on a monster of a man. His bottom lip trembles, just a bit, with barely restrained emotion. Not for the first time, she almost, almost, finds him handsome “You, Ben Solo.” Rose shakes her head. “You are the most pathetic man I think I’ve ever laid eyes on.”</p><p>“I see,” he replies, but there’s something different in his gaze. Something a little warmer. A little more wild.</p><p>Rose pretends she doesn’t see it, though she does drop her hand. “This is how it’s going to work. You’re going to snap out of your petty little wallowing and get that hunk of garbage ship fired up, or I’m gonna make you do it, even if I have to put my boot right up your ass.”</p><p>“Are you… threatening me?” all of a sudden, Ben stands up, unfolding his body to his full height so he towers over her. He's tall. Damn he's tall, and he's strong, and he still has a lightsaber, she's pretty sure, and if not, she's heard Jedi can do force choking, or any number of terrible things and...</p><p>Rose swallows, a little overwhelmed. All of the past moments now caught up with her, she realizes just the sort of shit-pile she’s stepped in. “I am just asking you to be better. That’s all.”</p><p>“I’ve no time for useless optimism.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, I have no time for dying, so one of us is going to have to budge.” Rose puts her hands on her hips again, lifting her chin and trying her hardest to be much taller than she is.</p><p>Next, Ben Solo does the one thing she’s quite sure she could have never guessed he’d do. He reaches out, to cup her cheek with one large hand. “I’m going to kiss you, I think,” he whispers. “Is that all right?”</p><p>“I... “ Rose bites her lip. Had she just heard him say that? Was his dinner just a bottle of Naboo vodka? “It is. As long as… tell me why. Okay? If you’re gonna kiss me, if you’re not joking, i’d just like to know…”</p><p>She never finishes, because in that moment, his lips meet hers. He kisses her, hard. Kisses her like the way an asteroid can slam into a planet, destroying whole cities. Only, the thing being obliterated right now is Rose’s righteous anger, which fades into something a great deal more like passion as the kiss grows. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, holding him close, as his tongue presses her lips apart, claiming more of her with every passing second. It’s a kiss like a surrender, and Rose finds herself thinking she’s just about lost the war, when he steps back, only for a moment.</p><p>“I wanted to know what that tasted like,” he says, with something almost like a smile on his lips. “Your… optimism. And your courage.”</p><p>Rose suddenly feels very small and very warm. “I… I mean, it wasn’t much.”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure you just threatened one of the most feared men in the galaxy with an ass kicking,” Ben replies. “Either you are very brave or very confident in the strength of your boots.”</p><p>Rose’s breath catches. In this, he’s almost more surprising than in the kiss. “Was that… Did you just make a joke?”</p><p>The side of his lips quirk up. “It happens from time to time. Now,” he bends once more to press a far more dignified kiss on her lips. “Show me where the ship is and what it needs.”</p><p>Rose pauses. She thinks for a moment before asking, and feeling stupid the whole time she does ask, "What about you? What do you need?" After all, he'd just gone from sulking in silence for over a week to... heroic stuff. Springing into action? Kissing her like that? Making a joke? It reminds her a bit of the stories of General Solo himself, and she's not quite sure how she feels about it. Goodness, she's not even sure how she feels about--no. That's a lie. She knows damn well she liked kissing him, and he'd asked after all, and she'd agreed, and now... now they... they'd get the ship off the ground and get out of here.</p><p>"I think you gave me everything I needed," Ben Solo replies. He reaches out, his hand finding hers so easily she's ready to blame the force, though she's pretty sure it's not that, it's just... she likes when he touches her. "You're something else, Rose Tico. Something good."</p><p>"So are you," she whispers. "Let's prove it, okay?"</p>
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